Jesse Owens was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, an extraordinary achievement made even more powerful because it directly challenged Nazi Germany's racist ideology at the time. He set world records in sprinting and long jump that stood for years. Owens himself later noted a bitter irony: while Hitler's famous snub is often retold, it was actually his own president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who never invited him to the White House or sent congratulations — and he is remembered today as one of the greatest and most important athletes in Olympic history.